Connecting rod



Feb. 13, 1934. F, SCHAEFER 1,947,278

CONNECTING ROD Filed April 24, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l I' L1, i.

J 5. ll m 1 9 ag P\ E QC i C)@@\/ wn'usss 1 L ML, F INVENTOR 4 W W I F. SCHAEFER CONNECTING ROD Feb. 13,1934.

Filed April 24, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESS Patented Feb. 13, 1934 STATES PATET FFECE:

5 Claims.

The invention relates to connecting rods for the brake riggings of railway car trucks, the object being to improve the connecting rod shown in my Patent No. 1,445,850, issued February 20, 1923, and particularly the channel-like section of which such rod is formed, to the end when the section is forged less displacement of certain portions of the metal will be required, and to the end that the body portion of the rod may have its outer wall continuous and uninterrupted by angular corners.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings of which Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view of a rolled blank or section for forming a connecting rod; Fig. 2 a plan view of the section, but to smaller scale; Fig. 3 a plan view of the section after it has been forged and trimmed; Fig. 4 a plan, and Fig. 5 an elevation of one form of connecting rod made from the forged blank of Fig. 3; Figs. 6, '7 and 8 transverse sectional views taken on the planes indicated by the lines VI--VI, VII-VII and VIII-VIII, respectively, Fig. 5; Fig. 9 a plan, and Fig. 10 an elevation of another form of connecting rod made from the forged blank of Fig. 3; and Fig. 11 a transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line XIXI, Fig. 10.

The connecting rod shown in my said patent is formed from a rolled channel-shaped section having an abrupt angular flange at each of its edges and a thickened longitudinal rib between its edges. In forging a connecting rod blank from that section, the metal in the thickened medial rib must be caused to flow laterally a considerable amount to form a peripheral flange at the adjacent sides of the ear-forming lugs at the end of the blank, which lugs form the bifurcated ends of the lever. Also, the outer wall of the body portion of a rod formed from such blank has ;angular corners where the flanged edges of a blank meet the web, which corners are objectionable in practice, and cannot be eliminated without a special flange-deforming operation which adds to the cost of manufacture. The objection ;to these angular corners is that, when, for one reason or another, the connecting rod is lowered from its normal position and rides upon the safety loop or loops, the rod cuts them. More specifically stated, the object of this invention is to im- ;prove the construction of the connecting rod of my said patent to the end that the foregoing objections may be eliminated.

In the practice of this invention, a connecting rod is forged from a channel-shaped sectionlhav- .ing thickened edges 2 whose outer surfaces 3 are segments of a cylinder having a radius of curvature substantially the same as that of the outer wall of that portion of the body of a rod in which these thickened edges lie. The extent of this cylindrical surface is generally indicated by the radius lines 4 on Fig. 1. Section 1 is also provided with a medial longitudinal outwardly-extending corrugation 5, which has thickened edges 6, and whose outer surface 7 is preferably, throughout its major portion, a segment of a cylinder the same as that of surfaces 3. However, as generally indicated by radius lines 8 on Fig. 1, there may be a slight interruption of the continuity of this cylinder surface at the center of corrugation 5. Between the thickened edges 2 and medial corrugation 5, the section preferably has plate-like portions 9, as shown.

In forming a connecting rod from the rolled section shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a proper length of the section is first forged in suitable dies to form the substantially flat blank shown in Fig. 3, the blank having a central portion 15 which latter forms the body of a connecting rod, and cars 16 at its ends for forming the bifurcated ends of the connection. In this forging operation, the thickened ends 2 of section 1 are deformed in cars 16 to form outer flanges 17, and thickened portions 6 at the edge of corrugation 5 are deformed to form similar flanges 18 between the cars. In forming the latter flanges, comparatively little flow of the metal is required because the thickened portions 6 of corrugation 7 lie in the positions where flanges 18 are formed. As shown in Fig. 3, these flanges are continuous around the ends of cars 16, the metal of platelike portions 9 of the blank being forged to form the flanges at the ends of the cars.

In forging the blank of Fig. 3, it is provided with outwardly-extending embossments or projections 19 for reinforcing the connecting rod where cars 16 join body portion 15. Also, ears 16 are provided with a suitable number of eyes 20 surrounded by flanges 21 for receiving rodconnecting pins or like members.

After forging the blank of Fig. 3, it is turned around a suitable former to give the body of a connecting rod its desired shape, and to bring ears 16 of the blank into parallelism to form the bifurcated ends of the rod. For forming a straight connecting rod such as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, body portion 15 of the blank of Fig. 3 is so deformed that the outer wall of the tubular body 150. is cylindrical, as shown in Fig. 8. From this figure it will be seen that the cylindrical surfaces 3 of the thickened edges 2 of blank 1 lie in the cylindrical surface of the body, as do also cylindrical surfaces 7 of the thickened edges 6 of medial corrugation 5. Accordingly, this bending or turning of the forged blank may be accomplished by bending the plate-like portions 9 of section 1, and the portion of the corrugation of such section lying between its segmental cylindrical surfaces 7. It will here be observed that the ends of thickened edges 2 are so shaped that, when body 15a is formed they meet each other, and that this body is continuous and uninterrupted by angular corners.

As is well known, to meet some conditions of service it is necessary to have the body of a connecting rod offset downwardly with relation to its bifurcated ends. In the operation of such connecting rods, there is, because of these offsets, necessarily combined bending and direct tension or compression stresses in the portions of the rods between their bodies and ends. To properly transmit these stresses, and particularly the bending stresses, the prevailing practice is to form the bodies of the rods of greater vertical depths than horizontal widths. In Figs. 9 and 10, there is illustrated such a rod made from section 1 as forged to form the blank of Fig. 3, the body 15b having greater depth than its width. As appears from Fig. 11, substantially the only deformation of the blank of Fig. 3 required for forming body 1512 is the bending of the central portion of corrugation 5. The cylindrical outer surfaces 3 of thickened edges 2, and the similar cylindrical surfaces 7 of the thickened ends 6 of corrugation 5 lie in the curvature of the curved portions of the body, and the sides of the body are in the planes formed by plate-like portions 9 of section 1. As stated with reference to the body 15a of the straight rod of Figs. 4 and 5, the body 15b of the ofiset rod of Figs. 9 and 10 has an outer wall which is continuous and uninterrupted by angular corners.

In each form of connecting rod the flanges 17 and 18 on ears 16 are provided at their edges with beads 25 (Figs. 6 and 7) which strengthen and stifien the ears. In forging the ears, the metal for forming these beads is taken from the thickened edges 2 and 6 of section 1.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention, and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as illustrated and described.

I claim as my invention:

1. A connecting rod having a smooth-faced tubular body and bifurcated ends, said body being split throughout its length along one of its sides and provided with substantially inverted V- shaped stiffening ribs of materially greater thickness than the side Walls of the rod on the interior of the body adjacent to and parallel with the edges of said split.

2. A connecting rod comprising a tubular body having bifurcated connecting ears on the opposite ends thereof, said body being split throughout its length along one of its sides, and materially thickened on its interior adjacent the edges of said split to stiffen it in such areas and also along its length substantially diametrically opposite to said edge thickened portions for the same purpose, said latter thickened portions being spaced from each other by a wall portion of lesser thickness.

3. A connecting rod comprising a tubular body split throughout its length along one of its sides and provided on its interior with a plurality of axially disposed stiffening ribs arranged adjacent the edges of said split and arranged at opposite sides of a narrow strip running lengthwise of the body diametrically opposite to said split, the body having bifurcated channel-shaped ends provided with flanged edges having outwardly extending stiffening beads thereon.

4. A connecting rod comprising a tubular body having bifurcated connecting ends and a smooth curved exterior surface, a pair of thickened axially disposed stiffening ribs on its interior adjacent the edges of a split extending throughout the length of said body, and a second pair of axially disposed stiffening ribs also arranged on the interior of said body relatively close to each other at points substantially diametrically opposed to said first-mentioned ribs.

5. A connecting rod comprising a tubular body having an oblong cross section rounded at the ends of its major axis and provided with bifurcated channel-shaped connecting ends and a smooth exterior surface, a pair of stiffening ribs arranged adjacent the edges of a split running throughout the length of said body in the midsection of one of said rounded sides, and a second pair of stiffening ribs arranged in relatively close relationship on the interior of the opposite rounded side.

FREDERIC SCHAEFER. 

